'Avengers' Star Elizabeth Olsen on the Sexy Scarlet Witch Costume She Didn't Have to Wear

As the Scarlet Witch in both Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, Elizabeth Olsen is what comic fans would expect of the Marvel heroine: She’s powerful and can harness that hex-casting power to move objects in all kinds of ways.

Unlike the comics, however, she does not do any of that while wearing a form-fitting, barely-there onesie.

The comic-book Scarlet Witch (Marvel)

As many fans may know, and Olsen explained on last night’s Late Night With Seth Meyers, Olsen was reassured by Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon before she took the role that she would never have to don the kinds of ensembles Scarlet Witch does in the original Marvel stories.

“He said there’s this character, Scarlet Witch, that I’m interested in, for you to play,” Olsen recalled of their initial meeting. “Then he said, ‘And when you go home and Google her, just know that you will never, ever have to wear what she wears in the comics.”

“I did ballet growing up, but that’s not a confident look,” she added as she gazed at an image of the comic book character busting out of her leotard.

Olsen, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson in ‘Age of Ultron’ (Jay Maidment/Disney/Marvel via AP)

Two lessons to take away from this: One, sometimes it really is a good idea to deviate from the source material. And two, Joss Whedon is a hero for both rejecting that outfit and making sure Olsen understood, upfront, that he had a less sexualized vision for her.

Watch the ‘Civil War’ directors talk about Spider-Man’s place in the movie: